A space for modern mindfulness and wellbeing, to encourage self reflection and inspired action.

Step up your astrology game by learning your North and South Nodes

It can seem that we're all on a never-ending quest for guidance. Whether it's buying self-development books, taking online personality tests (guilty!), or listening to self-help podcasts, we all have our methods of choice for trying to make sense of who we are and how we can overcome our challenges.

If you're open to the cosmic guidance of astrology, then you can look to the North and South Nodes in your birth chart which are known as the “Nodes of Fate”. These points can tell us about our life's path, purpose, and the lessons that we should focus on learning in this lifetime.

These lunar nodes are determined by the points where the moon’s orbit crosses the “ecliptic”—the apparent path the Sun makes around the earth. The nodes take into account the Sun, the moon and the earth and they fall in the same signs that the eclipses are in when we’re born. The nodes change signs every 18 months approximately. People born within the same lunar node group are likened to be our “soul tribe”.

South Node - your past lives

The South Node reveals the gifts that you bring from your past lives, your sweet spot, your comfort zone. You will be innately good in these areas of life, and may begin your early path based on your South Node leanings. The South Node represents lessons from your past lives (sometimes known as karmic baggage), and all the qualities that you've already mastered.

The comfort and familiarity of your South Node makes it easy to fall back on the qualities it represents in your sign — but doing that too much can manifest as being avoidant of embracing the true destiny of your North Node.

The South Node can be considered your inheritance from past lives. The key is to use your South Node as a springboard into your North Node destiny.

North node - your life purpose

The North Node represents the lessons you must learn in this lifetime, despite that they may fall far outside your comfort zone. It's not always going to be easy to embrace, but it will most certainly be fulfilling when you do.

It's believed by many astrologers that people really begin confronting North Node issues in their thirties — so if those years are still ahead of you, prepare to dive into the mysterious unknown if you want to really seize the opportunities. If you want to work through unfinished business from your past lives and evolve into your highest, happiest self, you must embrace the North Node qualities, uncomfortable as they may feel.